commbasics

Girish Mhatre was at one time the Grand Poobah at EE Times (editor in chief, that is) in the publication's print heyday.  He's made some valuable comment on this blog this year regarding the trend toward content marketing and branded content .  He dropped me a note today that serves as an excellent introduction to a new series we are developing here called "Why CEO's should be scared s(p)itless about their content.  I offer Girish's observations without comment... for now. ;)   Girish Mhatre, journalist and wine enthusiast Hi Lou, prompted by a conversation with you, I’ve conducted an informal survey of company content strategies. Here are some observations: I must say that I don’t get it. If this is the state of the art in content marketing by tech companies, then it’s not very effective -- with one exception.  Cadence: I am hugely unimpressed. Perhaps Fuller hasn’t got his arms around a strategy yet ( Note: Girish is right. Met wi...

Not 5 minutes after I posted I got a rumor that Brian Fuller was leaving his position at the UBM online publication EBN for a corporate position at Cadence Design. I just had it confirmed. Earlier today I posited that the latest downsizing at UBM editorial might have been a step too far and that there would be a voluntary exodus of the talent still on board. Not 5 minutes after I posted I got a rumor that Brian Fuller was leaving his position at the UBM online publication EBN for a corporate position at Cadence Design . I just had it confirmed. I also suggested that people who had been laid off in January would be approached to return and that few would take the offer.  I've learned today that several offers have been rebuffed, even from those that have not yet found permanent employment. Corporations are becoming attractive locales for displaced journalists.  Ron Wilson left UBM, voluntarily, several years ago to be editor in chief for Altera's content engine and ...

  To sum up our series today on the death of journalism as we know it, there is less and less independent analysis from the free press due to budgetary constraints.  Consumers are relying more and more on online content, especially video , to make their decisions but they still want objective content.  Businesses that understand this are turning to ethical journalism and sponsoring it directly to establish themselves as trusted sources of content.  The tech world is taking baby steps in this direction.  Xilinx and Altera hired former print journalists to manage in-house publications sent to current customers.  Cadence Design took a step further hired a journalist to manage blog content specifically to promote the companies products and services, but the efforts focus only on current customers. Larger companies, like Pepsi , offer a section of the website devoted only to pop culture, not products.  Digikey , in contrast, offers industry news...